The General Medical Council (GMC) found three doctors guilty of serious professional misconduct.

Two, James Wisheart and John Roylance, are struck off the medical register. The other, Janardan Dhasmana, is banned from operating on children for three years.

Addressing them, GMC president Sir Donald Irvine said: "A parent placing a child in a doctor's care must have confidence that the doctor will put the child's best interests before any other.

"It is hard to imagine a situation in which trust is more essential. A doctor who fails to live up to that expectation will seriously undermine not only his or her relationship with that particular patient or parents, but the confidence of all patients in doctors."

Angry parents greeted the doctors as they leave the GMC's building in London.

Then Health Secretary Frank Dobson told the BBC's "Newsnight" programme that he thinks all three doctors should have been struck off.

He announced the a public inquiry to examine what went wrong at Bristol.

Janardan Dhasmana was sacked by the hospital trust.

An appeal by former chief executive John Roylance against the General Medical Council's decision to strike him off failed.